Author: Phaedrus      Ride: N/A
Submitted: 1998 Apr 21
   Rating: n/a

One thing I would like to make clear - buzzers, like idiot lights, provide LESS information than guages. If you install oil and temperature guages, you will have a better idea of how well your bike is running than you would if you had only a light, or a light and buzzer installed. But I still think that buzzers are useful, even for those with guages.

I purchased my oil/temp warning buzzer from Mouser Electronics, a mail order company that specializes in electronic parts (800)346-6873. The buzzer is stock #539-PS562, and costs $4.18 (plus $3.00 for shipping). It's loud (rated for a minimum 105dB), and puts out an alternating HI-LOW sound that gets your attention BETTER than buzzers that make a continuous tone, which is hard to distinguish from road noise.

Installing the buzzer is relatively simple. But before you do, you may want to think about connecting an on/off switch "in series" with it. This will allow you to turn off the buzzer whenever you DON'T want to hear it. Without the on/off switch, the buzzer will sound whenever the ignition key is in the ON position and the bike is not running. This isn't too bad as long as you start the bike right away (it let's you know the buzzer is operating correctly), but it's a pain in the ass if you turn off the bike with the kill switch, or you want to work on the bike and need to have the key in the ON position for some reason! It's also a good practice to disconnect the GROUND wire from the battery whenever you are working on the bike's electrical system.

To install the buzzer, you have to connect it "in parallel" with the water temperature light. This means that the two wires going to the temperature light MUST ALSO GO TO THE BUZZER. By connecting it to the Temp light, the buzzer will work if the Temp light comes on, but also if the Oil light comes on (because the Oil light is wired to make the Temp light come on at the same time.)

To get to these wires (for those with tank mounted idiot lights), remove the mounting bolt on the instrument dash (the bolt closest to the seat on the dash plaque), and move the dash out of the way, exposing the wires. It's NOT necessary to unplug the idiot lights or disconnect the speedometer cable - just move it far enough out of the way to expose the wires going to the idiot lights (the dash can rest on the tank, but put a towel under it so it doesn't scratch the tank.)

The six wires from the idiot lights go to a connector, which plugs into the bike's wiring harness. I connected the buzzer to two of the wires attached to the OTHER side of that connector. This way, when you or your wrench removes the dash or tank, you can unplug the connector and the buzzer will stay on the bike. Find the two wires that go to the Temp light (refer to the wiring diagram in the bike's service manual if you have one, or just follow the two wires from the Temp light to the corresponding wires on the other side of the connector.) On the 800 Classic, these two wires are color-coded BROWN/WHITE STRIPE (splice the RED wire from the buzzer to this wire), and YELLOW/WHITE STRIPE (splice the BLACK wire from the buzzer to this wire.) If the buzzer is installed correctly, it will beep when the ignition key is in the ON position, and it will stop beeping when you start the bike. Don't forget to put an on/off switch "in series" with the buzzer if you want to be able to disable it! To secure the buzzer, I just used plastic tie wraps to attach it to the wiring harness.

Now you can bolt the dash back on and you're done (before tightening the bolt, make sure the dash is aligned so that the bolt will be positioned in the SAME spot it was before you removed it. The bolt doesn't have a washer under it, so it will scratch a circle into your dash plaque when you tighten it.)

It probably took longer to read this than it will for some of you to install it, but I wanted to make it as clear as possible.